


Stumble into Our Lives

by ilcocoabean



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 07:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1103877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilcocoabean/pseuds/ilcocoabean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After owning Roosterteeth for a couple years and being pretty familiar with the area, Burnie was rarely surprised by the type of homeless people he saw. However, even he had to admit he'd never seen homeless children wandering the streets of Austin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stumble into Our Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [RTSecretSanta](http://rtsecretsanta.tumblr.com/) over on tumblr for [thelastpilot](http://thelastpilot.tumblr.com/). Prompt was "Burnie finding Ray, Michael, and Gavin (ages 5, 6, and 5 1/2 years old respectively) abandoned on the streets of Austin. Burnie brings the young boys back to Roosterteeth and they meet everyone before Burnie decides to keep them." Title inspired by [Something to Believe In — Aqualung](http://youtu.be/WdG6qP1G7ls).
> 
>  
> 
> Read @ [LJ](http://sandedletters.livejournal.com/15887.html).

When Burnie had first started Roosterteeth he'd made it his mission to meet all the homeless people around their building. Most were older men and women, all aware of the ways they could use their status to their advantage but some were around his age or even younger but never too young. Now, after owning Roosterteeth for a couple years and being pretty familiar with the area, he was rarely surprised by the type of homeless people he saw. However, even he had to admit he'd never seen homeless children wandering the streets of Austin.

He was on his lunch break, stuck at a light when he got his first glimpse of them. At first he thought they were just being neglected a bit when he saw them playing outside of the park rather than in it. There were plenty of mothers inside of the gates for him to assume that they belonged to one of them. It wasn't until he was driving back to his apartment later that same day that he noticed they were still playing outside of the park. They had constructed a rather elaborate fort made of branches and rocks but they were completely alone with no mothers or older siblings nearby to speak of.

That and the fact that they were dirty had pretty much tipped him off that something wasn't right here. He eased up to the curb and rolled down the passenger window.

“Hey,” he called out. “Where are your parents?”

They looked up at him, one had dirty blond hair and green eyes, another had dark hair and brown eyes, and the one standing between them had pale freckled skin and auburn hair. The three boys couldn't be older than five or so but the one in the middle was doing an impressive job of disregarding that considering how defensive he looked.

“None ya business!” He answered with a huff.

“Michael...” the green eyed boy was tugging on the auburn haired boy's shirt. “That's rude.”

The boy crossed his arms, pulling away from the other boy's grasp. “So?”

The dark haired boy was looking between them, shivering in his light gray t-shirt and dark shorts. He looked tinier the other two. Burnie felt his stomach drop a little as the idea began to form in his head. They couldn't be. No, they were far too young. 

Clearing his throat to regain their attention Burnie addressed the dark haired boy directly. “You cold?”

Startled, the boy looked up quickly and then away, eyes returning to the ground. He shrugged. “Yeah. A little.”

“Well how about this, there's a coffee shop down the block, I can get you guys some hot chocolate. How does that sound?”

The blond and dark haired boys looked enthusiastic at the idea but Michael didn't look convinced.

“I was told to never ever get into a stranger's car,” he said. “You're a stranger.”

Burnie said, “Fair enough. I'll just park my car here and we can walk there. Is that okay?”

Michael's tiny brows were furrowed in thought for a bit before he nodded. “Okay.”

**. . .**

Getting them back to his apartment proved to be easier than Burnie expected. Once the boys had each a cup of cocoa and a slice of pie, they were more than willing to follow the nice man with glasses who had given them food.

His first instinct had been to drop them off at the police station but it was late and convincing the boys to even so much as sit in the same booth as him had been an arduous task. He couldn't imagine how panic-inducing it would be for them to wake up in a child service facility with no idea as to how they'd got there. The next best thing was to take them back to his place to clean them up and see what else he could get out of them.

So far all he'd learned was their ages and names. Michael was the oldest at six years. Then Gavin, the green eyed boy, at five and a half (he was particularly insistent about this specification) and Ray, the youngest, at five. Each had been abandoned by their parents within days of each other and each of them had been aware it was happening. In Ray's case he had a letter in his pocket written by his father to a future Ray, explaining why he had to leave him. He and Michael (abandoned by a drunk mother) had met at a nearby shelter where their respective parents had left them and the two had gone to the park to play where they found Gavin sleeping under one of the slides. His mother had told him his father would find him and he'd been there just for a few hours. 

When Burnie tried to figure out which shelter they'd been to neither Michael nor Ray could remember the name. 

“It had gray walls,” Michael said, scratching his head. “I think?”

“No, it had blue walls!” Ray exclaimed. “I remember. They had big paintings on them.”

“I want to go to a shelter,” Gavin mumbled.

“No, you don't,” Michael snapped. “It smells gross and the food is the worst in the entire world.”

Once they arrived to Burnie's apartment he had them take a bath together. He was grateful that his nephews were usual guests at his place that he had at least a couple toys for them to enjoy which helped persuade them into the water. After a rather long call to his brother to ask if he had any clothes to spare (much of it was spent explaining that no, he hadn't kidnapped three children) he returned to his bathroom to find soap on all the walls, a naked and wet Gavin screaming as an equally naked and wet Michael chased him around the small room with a toy dinosaur, and a calm Ray who was still sitting in the tub playing with a toy battle ship along with a rubber duck making shooting noises.

Burnie took a deep breath and rolled up his sleeves before heading in.

**. . .**

“Who are these little guys?” Kara asked curiously, leaning over her desk.

Burnie ran a hand through his hair. “Found them outside the park yesterday. Two of them are supposed to be at a shelter, this one,” here he patted Gavin on the head, “well, they found him at the park.”

Between one moment and the next Kara's eyes widened as she stared up at him. “You don't mean...?”

“Yup,” Burnie sighed. “Hey do you mind keeping on an eye on them for a bit?” At Kara's unimpressed look he continued in a rush. “I just need to talk to Matt about this.”

Despite the dubious look on her face, Kara nodded. “Sure.” She turned to the boys with a smile. “Come on, you three, let's see if we can get something for you in the kitchen.”

Gavin and Ray immediately latched onto Kara's hands while Michael walked along behind them, looking around in wonder.

Burnie made a beeline for Matt's office and was grateful to find his friend was already in, sipping a cup of coffee and reading something on his computer.

“I may have made a terrible mistake,” Burnie began.

Without looking up Matt asked, “Did you kill someone?”

“What?” Burnie frowned. “No.”

“Is someone pregnant?”

“God, no!”

“Then it's probably not that terrible,” Matt replied. “What is it?”

“I found three homeless kids by the park and took them home with me.”

Matt paused mid-sip and turned to Burnie. Carefully he placed the mug down and fixed him with a steady look. “Do I need to call the authorities?”

“Oh my God, no!” Burnie flopped down in a chair in front of Matt's desk. “No, I am not a pedophile. God, what is wrong—you know what, never mind. I don't want to know. I just gave them a bath and something to eat.” Burnie placed his elbows on his knees curling in on himself a little. “They've been out there for like two days or something. Fuck, if I hadn't found them someone else might have. Two of them ran away from a shelter which, what the fuck man? They haven't contacted the police about two missing children so clearly they're not fit to take care of them. And the other's just been hanging around the park for like a day.”

“Wait, wait,” Matt held up a hand and shook his head in confusion. “Start over. You found them at a park?”

“Yeah,” Burnie said. “I saw them in the afternoon but I thought they were there with parents. Then when I was heading back to my place I saw they were still there. Asked them where their parents were and apparently both Michael and Ray knew their parents had left them but Gavin's convinced his father's coming to pick him up at that park and I have no idea what to do.”

Matt glanced at the clock and stood up. “Yeah, I need a drink for this. You stay right there. I'm going to get some coffee or something for you because man, you look like shit.”

Burnie nodded and sat back in the chair, staring ahead blankly. When the door opened again a few minutes later he was unsurprised to see Geoff and Gus there, arms crossed and looks that were equally judgmental and expectant. He groaned and covered his face.

“Go away.” He muttered. “I don't need you guys right now.”

“There are children in the office,” Gus began. “Three of them. The only child that's ever here is Millie and that's usually of her own free will. Those kids? They don't seem to be here of their own free will.”

“What's the story?” Geoff asked, walking in and taking the other seat available. “You bang up three different chicks and they showed up on the same night?”

“I wish,” Burnie said. “At least that would be easier to explain.”

Geoff whistled. “That bad?”

“You have no idea.”

**. . .**

Luckily for Burnie explaining the story to Geoff and Gus wasn't as bad as it was for Matt. It might have been thanks to the coffee Matt brought him and also partially due to the bottle of whiskey that Geoff and Gus shared along with Matt.

“So what am I gonna do?” Burnie asked. “I can't keep them.”

“I don't know what to tell you,” Matt replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “You have to call the police, that's for sure. Figure out if they can find the shelter where the two kids were in originally.”

“Yeah I guess—”

“Burnie?”

At the sound of his name Burnie looked up and found a rather flustered and worried looking Kara who had chocolate stains all over her skirt and a spot of ketchup on her face. “The kids are kind of missing.”

Burnie's mouth fell open. “What?”

Kara shrugged tugging at her skirt. “We were in the kitchen, making sandwiches and I just turned around for a second and they were just gone!”

“Oh God.” Burnie stood up. “How long have they been missing?”

“Not long,” Kara replied holding up her hands in a placating manner. “Maybe fifteen minutes? I've already got Barbara and Jack and Brandon looking. They're probably hiding or something. I just thought I'd tell you before things got out of ha—”

There was the sound of excited shrieks behind her and the thud of tiny footsteps followed by a crash. They were out of the room in an instant, stumbling into each other in their haste to locate the source of the crash. At the bottom of the stairs was Michael, Gavin, and Ray each giggling as they stared down at Brandon who was sprawled over the floor with Barbara kneeling down beside him.

“Is he okay?” Matt called out.

“He'll be fine,” Joel replied. “He's just a little unconscious.”

“Oh, just a little?” Gus's voice was heavy with sarcasm.

Burnie rushed down the stairs, walking around Brandon and heading for the boys who looked up at him with smiles.

“I like it here,” Gavin said. “It's fun.”

“Yeah, it's okay,” Michael agreed. “Kara makes good sandwiches.”

Ray yawned loudly beside them and Burnie couldn't help but smile.

**. . .**

“So what are you going to do?” Matt asked as he and Burnie watched the boys sleeping on the couch. “The police will probably want them to go to child services or something.”

“Yeah,” Burnie shrugged. “But they were at a shelter already.”

“For like a day. It can't have been—”

“Exactly,” Burnie said. “One day and they were able to make a run for it and have been missing from there for about two days or maybe more. There's been nothing on the news about them so I think it's safe to assume they don't care.” He gestured to the door. “Kara and Barbara love them already and hell even Brandon thinks they're cute even though they basically knocked him out. Pretty sure we can take better care of them.”

“We?” Matt echoed. “Oh no, they're on you.”

“Yeah I know.” Burnie grinned. “You coming with Barbara and me to the station to report this?”

“Nah,” Matt replied. “I've got work to do. Take Jack. Doesn't he have contacts with the police or something?”

“Oh yeah, he does, doesn't he?”

As they stood there a little while longer Ray suddenly woke up, crying.

Matt clapped a hand on Burnie's shoulder and shook his head. “Well then welcome to the wonderful joys of parenting. Go help the kid out of that nightmare.”


End file.
